JLAfridi's reviews

Some of my friends were coming down from Maine to help me celebrate my wedding with my Florida bride, and this was what one of them wanted to do. He organized it so that we could go on the tour, sample the beers, and then it also fell on the same day that the bar was having a live local band. The band was great, and the beer tasted nice, and I was happy to be with my friends, but the whole brewery touring part was a bit cheesy. I could see how a guy who loves beer could get into this, but it really reminded me of the time I went to the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont. People walk around and pretend to be interested, and then make a mad dash for the ice cream samples in the last room. The staff was nice, and everything was nice and all, but beer should be your thing if you're coming here.

The actual rehearsal dinner took place at Lily's parents’ house on the eve of the wedding, when my family and her family gathered for pizza. For the rehearsal dinner, which is where more friends and family join you in a less informal setting, we went to the Pirate's Dinner Adventure. Theme dinners are really popular now, and when I was in Chicago in early 2008 I went with my work to a Medieval Themed dinner. We agreed to go to the Pirate Adventure because it was listed as one of the best shows to see in the area, and also because we both have lots of young cousins and nieces and nephews, so this would be fun for them, too. I think for the kids who came from out of state with their parents, this was a good introduction to Florida! We made group reservations, and we were about 22 people total, so we booked it almost a month in advance. Tickets are expensive, but you can get them at a discount if you order them online or if you go through a ticket agent. We showed up early, made sure that we were sitting somewhat together, and enjoyed the show. The show itself is great, lots of drama, great actors, and the atmosphere is great. I laughed, and I loved it. Everyone had a good time, and it's great that people think of pirates now when they think of my wedding day.

I would have to say that this was the best place I have ever stayed at in my life. Lily and I had discovered this place during one of our visits down to Lake Wales to find out about reception and ceremony sites. The pink building catches your eye, and then the inside, well, you feel like you stepped in some fantastic time machine. There is antique furniture in the rooms, and the overall structures of the buildings are equally unique. This was the perfect place for our families to meet and get to know one another, because the atmosphere is really relaxed and comforting. The staff is great, and you really feel at home here. It is possible to have a wedding party here, but considering we took over almost 3/4 of the inn, the wedding party was here. The dinning room was nice enough that we made reservations for all the guests to have a brunch on Sunday. I love that this hotel, and this experience, will be part of my wedding story.

After we made the decision to have the wedding ceremony in Lake Wales, we debated back and forth whether we could have our guests drive back an hour to Orlando for a reception in the city. After we spoke with some friends and family, we agreed that most people would rather make a weekend out of it and we went ahead and looked for places in Lake Wales. We drove around, picked up brochures, and were directed almost right away by someone at the Chamber of Commerce to go to the country club. We arranged a meeting with the wedding coordinator, spoke about our budget, the number of guests we had, and what we hoped our wedding reception would look like. I think what made it possible to book the reception hall here was that we were able to book it way in advance. We had both our ceremony and reception site decided upon almost a year in advance. The wedding coordinator at the club, Lynn, was amazing to work with. She was very accommodating about the menu, and the other things that we wanted at the wedding, such as a martini bar. She knew that we had our own florists, which worked with her, and she was able to provide us with information on bands and DJs that usually play at the club for wedding. The wedding reception went smoothly, everyone has a great time, and I'm glad we held it here!

I went with Lily to Kelly's shop after she made an appointment. For the consultation, Lily brought her wedding book, so that Kelly could see the ceremony site, and the reception venue, and also the color and style of the dresses. From the pictures, Kelly was able to make lots of suggestions that Lily just loved. Kelly was really great to work with; she's a cheerful person, someone who obviously loves what she's doing, and her love for flowers and creating beautiful things really shows in her works. I don't know much about flowers, but all the flower arrangements at our wedding were beautiful. She picked flowers with really bright colors, colors that you don't normally see at a wedding, like bright pinks and purples and blue flowers. We received lots of compliments of the centerpieces, and one of Lily's aunts liked her bouquet so much that she actually got Kelly's information and order the same bouquet for her home. She's an artist, and I think she was able to make our wedding look beautiful.

Because the divorce rate in this country is so high, and because marriage isn't something to be taken lightly, Lily and I arranged to go to premarital counseling in the months following our engagement. For a period of six months, we visited our counselor, Kathy, who helped us think about our future together as a couple. We did lots of exercises in decision making, talked through our tough patches, and talked about the things that we wanted to work on as individuals as well as couples. In hindsight, our petty argument rate is almost non-existent since we took those sessions together. We want to work together as a couple, and now we are aware that our success as a couple will depend on how we resolve issues. I think this made us more mature, and I was so happy that we were able to have such an intelligent and insightful counselor. I really think this is something all couples should do, and for a long period of time, too. I felt that we had achieved what we needed to achieve after almost ten lessons.

This is about 40 minutes away, but it's worth the drive. We wanted the reception to be at an outdoor setting, mainly because we thought it would be really pretty. We chose Box Tower Gardens because we had both been there before as undergraduates and had nice memories of the place. We also thought that it would be nice for the people out of state to see a historical site in Florida. There are many beautiful places that you can have the ceremony at the gardens, but because of the number of our group, which was about 100 (not counting the very small children), we rented the Exandra, which has an amazing view of the area. It is also made of beautiful stone, and added to an elegant atmosphere. We didn't use decorations other than the bouquets we had bought. I guess things to consider when using a public space is that there is a time limit, and that means everything has to go according to schedule. We reserved our time for 1pm, thought to my memory they don't let wedding ceremonies go any later than that. It also means that everyone needs to be on time. I think this would have posed a problem for our photographers, but we had made arrangements to have pictures taken in several other places in the city before going to the reception. I loved the place, and you don't really focus too much on time when you're getting married, so I think it all worked out well.

When I started planning how I would propose to Lily, I had a few ideas in my head of a place and what I was going to say. What I didn't have was a ring. Lily can be confusing at times, and I have heard her say that she doesn't want a ring, but then she would pause for a bit too long in front of jewelry shops. Also, some of her friends were getting engaged, and she would gush about the rings. Then she would say that she never wants to be defined by a piece of jewelry. With that kind of complicated girl in mind, I went about researching for a ring that would somehow suit her mellow and earthy nature. I found Touch Wood Rings, and I was sold on the idea right away. It was amazing learning about the meanings behind different types of wood, and having a ring that would eventually decompose sounded romantic to me. Dust to dust, right? So I went ahead and ordered the rings online, I made sure I had her right ring size before hand. I had her friend find out for me. The rings were beautiful (I ordered bands for both of us). The couple that owns the business are really kind, really insightful people, and gave me some good advice. Well, Lily loved her ring. She loved it even more when I told her what the wood meant, and that it had been handmade in Canada, and that there was only one like it in the world. I also told her that I would buy her a diamond ring in the future, she would just need to be with me when I made the purchase.

The thing that is amazing about Men's Warehouse is that you can literally step into one in any state and not know which state you're in. The ones that I have been in are almost all identical, minus the Boston accent in this one in Florida. I got my suit here, for a great price, and I was able to get socks and a shirt and all those great accessories. But the thing that I liked best about shopping at Men's Warehouse was that my best friend in Maine, who was my best man, could go into the Men's Warehouse near his house and they could fit him in the same style suit. The same was true for my cousin. When you're planning a wedding and the party is spread out all across the map, I think having a national store is really helpful. This worked pretty well for us, it was efficient, and we all looked good.

After the save-the-date fiasco, we found out that most brides and grooms now email their guests, or make a webpage. We emailed all our guests, but while looking for wedding invitations we came across the mywedding.com and how it lets you make a webpage for free, and then puts you in contact with the seller of the templates so that you can have similar looking invitations. We looked at all the different templates and wedding invitations styles, and choose wedding paper divas because they had the best prices for the number of invitations we needed, plus directions, plus seating cards. In all, for 150 guests, we paid a little over $300. We were able to design everything online, get advice on the wording, speak with a representative to make sure everything was okay, and then they mail you a sample card before mass printing. I think the cards were nice, it was great that we didn't have to make them ourselves. Lily was really happy, my mom thought they were pretty, and I think this was a great company with a great idea. If we could do it again, I would make the website and the also have the matching invitations.